Life's Lessons
by Nikki Bryn
Summary: Companion piece/Sequel to Youthful Intuition.
1. Lesson 1: Have a Little Faith

Legal Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess, such as Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, Virgil, etc. I do own, however the characters that do not appear in the series, such as Little Cyrene and Lydia.  
  
Other Disclaimers:  
  
Sex: No  
  
Violence: Yup  
  
Potty Mouth: Uh huh  
  
Subtext: Oh no! It's two women in love... WITH EACH OTHER! The horror!! Jeez, people, lighten up.  
  
Author's Note: This is a companion piece to my previous story, Youthful Intuition. And, just in case it's confusing, Little Cyrene narrates parts of this story.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Life's Lessons  
  
by Mystik  
  
~ July 21st, 2001 ~  
  
Lesson 1: Have a Little Faith  
  
Hello there! My name is Little Cyrene... but you can call me Cyrene. I'm the daughter of not only Gabrielle, Battling Bard of Potidea, but also of Xena: Warrior Princess of Amphipolis. Don't understand how I could have two mothers and no father?  
  
Neither do I.  
  
Anyway, here's my story... or the part I'm going to tell you for that matter.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Cyrene!" called Eve from her bedroom.  
  
A dark head jerked up in the study, where Cyrene was sleeping on her Latin scrolls. She wiped a bit of saliva from her lips and yawned, stretching out very cat-like in her fluffy chair. After thoroughly stretching out the muscles in her little body, the girl groggily skipped off to her sister's room.  
  
"What?" she asked as she waltz in.  
  
She found a sigh that didn't make her happy. It was that Eve's boyfriend, Taius, was sitting on the bed with her. He was a soft-spoken man, but kept himself in good shape in case a fighting situation came up. With ash-blonde hair and fiery green eyes, he was the kind to make heads turn. Almost every time Cyrene came to visit he would give her presents and was always as nice as could be to the girl.  
  
Cyrene hated him. She hated his gifts, his jokes, his smile, his niceness...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
But most of all, I hated the fact that he was always with Eve. She spent almost every waking... and, come to think of it, sleeping hour with him.  
  
I may be seven, but I'm not stupid. His lame excuses for going into the bedroom with Eve every night haven't fooled me since I was six.  
  
And I know it's wrong to hate him, but I have bouts of jealously more than worthy of my mothers. My eyes may not be green, but I can be the green-eyed monster when I want to...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Cyrene," repeated Eve, a hint of impatience in her tone signaling she had been trying to get the girl's attention for some time now.  
  
"Huh? What?" said the girl, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.  
  
"We have a surprise for you and-"  
  
"Please say you're not pregnant or engaged!" blurted Cyrene before she could stop herself.  
  
Taius looked a bit hurt while Eve looked just plain shocked. "No, I'm not pregnant or engaged. Where did you get an idea like that?" demanded Eve, her shock quickly giving way to anger.  
  
Cyrene looked down at her toes in shame. "Sorry..."  
  
Eve shook her head and said, "Anyway, I was going to tell you that Mother and Mom are bringing an Amazon, her husband, and her baby to see you."  
  
That made the girl's ears perk up. "A real Amazon?" She reveled in the thought of meeting a true Amazon for the first time, not just her mom.  
  
"Yep, a real Amazon," confirmed Eve with a smile. It was hard for her to stay mad at the girl for more than a few moments.  
  
"And a real baby?" The only thing that excited Cyrene more than Amazons were babies...as long as Taius wasn't the father of it.  
  
"A real baby," confirmed Eve once again. Lucky Amazon...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Quick explanation: Mother is Xena and Mom is Gabrielle. Just to let you know so there's not mass confusion.  
  
Anyway, I spent a few days preparing for the arrival of my mothers and their guests... you know, cleaning up my room, washing my hair, getting some war-paint ready...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Xena gave Eve a wide, somewhat forced smile as she approached her eldest daughter's house. She inwardly sighed, noting how close her daughter and Taius were standing.  
  
Gabrielle, on the other hand, quickly dismounted and embraced both Eve and Taius. "So good to see you two again! Sorry for being gone so long!" said the bard as she pulled away from Eve.  
  
"No, it's fine. It's always great to spend time with Cyrene," said Eve with a grin. "And why didn't you come and drop her off yourself instead of sending her with Aphrodite?"  
  
"Ah, that's my fault," interrupted a petite young woman perched atop a... zebra? She dismounted her... zebra and shook hands with Eve. "Hi, I'm Lydia. Your mothers talk about nothing but you."  
  
Eve chuckled. "I don't doubt it. You're the Amazon who beat up Mother, right? Niiiice job. She had it coming," replied Eve with a wink.  
  
Lydia laughed and said, "That was ten years ago. I was an overly-confident, hyperactive, hormonal teenager."  
  
"That about sums it up," grunted Xena  
  
Lydia ignored the older warrior and continued, "Well, I was having birthing problems with this little guy here," she motioned to the baby strapped to her chest, "so Stone asked Aphrodite to get Xena for us. She popped in five minutes later." Another wink, this time directed at the handsome blonde man sitting next to her on his horse.  
  
Eve squealed with delight at the baby and begged to hold him; a plead that Lydia gave in to at the look on Eve's face.  
  
Meanwhile, Little Cyrene poked her head from the house and called, "Mother! Mommy! You're home!"  
  
Xena dismounted and caught the charging girl with a laugh. "Good to see you, too, Squirt!" said the warrior. "Did you have a good time?"  
  
"Yup! Eve took me to see some Ja-pa-ne-se sword dudes! They were really cool, too! The only part I didn't like was Taius," exclaimed the girl, the last part whispered in her mother's ear.  
  
Gabrielle snatched her daughter from Xena's arms and placed kisses all over Cyrene's face. "There's my baby!" She began towards the house with Xena following behind. "Mmm, you're so big! You must've grown three inches in the last few weeks!"  
  
Stone and Taius just grunted their `hello's' and joined Eve and Lydia. True manly fashion.  
  
"He's so cute! And he looks just like you, Stone!" squealed Eve as she cradled the infant in the crook of her arm.  
  
The small baby's bright blue eyes fluttered open and he stared up at Eve in sleepy confusion. His tiny face then scrunched up into a tight knot and he began to wail and scream.  
  
Startled, Eve quickly handed the baby to Lydia.  
  
"Oh, it's okay baby. Shhh, don't cry. Mama's here," crooned Lydia, kissing Junior's downy head. He calmed down at his mother's soft touch and sniffled tearfully. "He's had a rough trip. I better feed him so he'll go back to sleep."  
  
The ex-Amazon and her husband ventured into the house.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Now, the only thing that makes my sister feel unwanted is a crying baby. She absolutely loves kids. If there's a new baby in the village, you can't expect her to be home at a decent hour. But whenever it cries while she's holding it she gives it back to its mother as if the babe were on fire.  
  
So it was a big setback on Eve's mood when Junior woke up, looked at her, and cried his heart out. But anyway, inside the house Mom, Mother, and I were discussing the forbidden subject... Taius.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"I still don't like him," said Xena and Cyrene in perfect unison.  
  
Gabrielle shook her head with a heavy sigh. "You two have been saying that since Eve announced she liked him."  
  
"The moment she announced she thought he was `the one'," corrected Xena bitterly, thinking about her anger at the dinner table that night. Ooh, how she had sliced up the trees outside after that.  
  
"She's thirty-five, Xena, I think she's capable of making her own choices about her love life," argued Gabrielle, tapping her foot impatiently.  
  
"Thirty-five's too young," muttered Xena.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Big mistake.  
  
See, because the universe has a rude sense of humor, if you take away the twenty-six years of Mom's life that was wasted, she's younger than Eve by almost a year. Eve is thirty-five and Mom is thirty-four. So you can probably see why Mom would get mad at Mother's statement.  
  
I know it's just plain wrong that Mom is younger than Eve, but I know for a fact that nothing is right when you're around Mother and Mom. You know that, dontcha? I'm not even going to go into what they said, but half the words I didn't understand so what's the point?  
  
Anyway, they blew up at each other for a few minutes, then kissed and made up like they always do. I hate the mush, so I wandered into the kitchen to find something more mischievous to do...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Lydia popped a strawberry-filled pastry into her mouth with a deep sigh. "This makes it so hard to keep up fighting form," she mumbled through the sugary substance.  
  
"What?" asked Eve with a tiny grin as she sipped some honey tea.  
  
The ex-Amazon wiped her mouth. "I got Junior here hooked on strawberries... because that's all I ever ate while I was pregnant. Just strawberries covered in sugar. Poor Stone had to ride three hours to the nearest town every day to get them for me. So now, unless I eat strawberries, Junior gets all fussy and goes through `strawberry withdrawal'."  
  
Eve chuckled a bit, stealing a glance at the tiny bundle contently nestled against Lydia's chest.  
  
"How does Junior know that you ate strawberries?" asked Cyrene curiously as she appeared from the kitchen.  
  
Lydia choked on some juice while Eve just stared at her little sister for what seemed like a small eternity. While the petite woman wiped her mouth, a smile tugging at her lips, Eve contemplated an answer.  
  
"Ah... um... well sweetie..." Eve stumbled over her words. "See..." She shot Lydia a desperate look.  
  
Lydia grinned and interrupted, "It's a mother/child thing. No one really understands so it's impossible to explain. Shall we say...a mystery?"  
  
Cyrene scratched her head in confusion. "Um... riiiight." She slowly tromped outside to think about it.  
  
Lydia winked at Eve. "Varia always says, `If you can't explain it to them... confuse em.'"  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I said I wasn't stupid, but I never said I was that smart.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene wandered down a dirt road, quietly humming to herself and kicking up dust as she walked. Soon the girl came to a rickety old bridge and stared at it for a moment.  
  
The wind gently rocked it back and forth, causing an unnerving creaking sound as the wood moved. The planks of wood were dark and looked rotted and week. Suspended by scraggily ropes, the bridge hung over two hundred feet in the air over a ravine. At the ravine floor your could just make out a small stream and a few sparse trees or bushes.  
  
Having never come this far before in her explorations, Cyrene didn't know what to make of the situation. Surely traveling merchants and traders had to cross it to reach the next village... right?  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Had I had the sense at that age, I would've glanced about fifty feet west of my position and saw a newly built, incredibly sturdy bridge.  
  
But of course, I never said anything thing about having common sense, did I? So, little did I know, my first life lesson was about to be learned.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene stepped onto the bridge timidly. The wood groaned and creaked under her weight, but didn't give way other than a few spraying splinters. Feeling a sudden burst of confidence, she jogged across the next yard or so.  
  
Then it happened.  
  
CRACK! The girl's foot broke through the next plank, causing her to fall headlong onto the bridge. It snapped under the impact, causing her to slide to the middle of the bridge along the ropes. Using the instincts she had inherited from her mother, her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest rope. She held on for dear life.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Now, you're probably thinking that this is where Mother and Mom swoop in to save me from impending doom.  
  
...  
  
Let me just say that you could call this story a `fractured Xena tale'...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"HELP!" called Cyrene for the umpteenth time in the last hour. The sun was setting on the horizon; soon she would be all alone in the dark. Hanging two hundred feet in the air on a rope barely supporting her weight.  
  
The young girl's fingers were slipping. Her arms were going to snap. Her legs, which she had somehow managed to rap around the rope, were about to break in half.  
  
Oh, how she wished she had never gotten onto the cursed bridge!  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle were on a desperate search for their daughter. They had asked all around town but no one had seen her. Lydia and Eve said she had gone out to play no more than two hours ago.  
  
Xena, perched atop Argo III, checked the reins and saddlebags. Argo II was too tired and old to run for long distances. It was a risk for her to take such an ill-trained filly, but she had no choice.  
  
Gabrielle came trotting out of the barn riding Neferiti's son, Rallius. Half-zebra and half-stallion, the horse was a majestic sight. Powerful muscles rippled under beautiful fur. With brown-and-white-striped hindquarters and the rest midnight black, the only horses that could ever rival him would be the three Argos.  
  
Argo III, on the other hand, was in direct contrast to the stallion. Sugary-white with the occasional gray spatter, her tail and main were storm cloud gray. She was relatively small, but packed more power than any mare of her size.  
  
They looked good together... much like Xena and Gabrielle.  
  
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" called Eve from the house.  
  
Xena looked at the sky worriedly as a strong wind began to pick up. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Just make sure no one comes after us!" replied the warrior above the howling wind.  
  
Eve hugged herself to block out the cold. This situation was just itching to become a total disaster. "Alright, be careful Mother, Mom!"  
  
The two women nodded and galloped off to find their missing daughter.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Little Cyrene looked up as rain began to pelt her face like cold knives. The wind blew the water droplets right into her little body, almost blowing her off the bridge.  
  
Alas, with one strong gust the bridge ropes snapped and down, down she went...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I can read your mind! You're thinking that I'm gonna go `splat' at the bottom and Mother and Mom are going to find some heroic way to bring me back to life.  
  
WRONGO!  
  
Just wait and see before you make any assumptions...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Xena pulled Argo to a halt, cringing as the mare's hooves slid a few feet forward in the slippery mud. She turned to her wife, who was blankly staring at the road ahead of them. "We'll find her, Gabrielle," comforted the warrior, squeezing her soul mate's shoulder.  
  
"I won't rest until she's in my arms, Xena. I want my baby," said the bard with a ragged sob. Xena rubbed her back until the bard regained herself, then they took off once again into the darkness.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene screamed as her half of the bridge slammed into the ravine wall, accompanied by the sickening crack of her bones breaking from the impact. Her grip loosened and the rope slipped, causing her to fall no more than ten feet before she hit something hard.  
  
Wavering on the edge of unconsciousness, the girl realized that she was lying on a ledge of some sort with a protective overhang. Summoning the last of her strength, she crawled into the tiny shelter, away from the howling storm, and collapsed in a puddle of cold water.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Blue eyes fluttered open and Cyrene coughed a few times. Not two seconds later she felt the immense pounding in her temples; the throbbing pain in her entire body. It hurt when she breathed, and there was blood speckles all over the floor in front of her face.  
  
NOT GOOD.  
  
Raising her head to assess her injuries, the girl noticed the trickle of blood down her cheekbone. She gingerly touched a hand to her head, feeling the warm blood caking her scalp.  
  
DEFINITELY NOT GOOD.  
  
"Sweet pea," whispered a soft voice.  
  
"Who--who's there?" called Cyrene weakly.  
  
"I don't have much time. Apollo will hear," said the disembodied voice quietly.  
  
"Apollo... wha?" The voice sounded comforting... and strangely familiar.  
  
A shimmering figure dressed in pink silk appeared before her. "Don't be scared. I'm a friend of your mothers'."  
  
Cyrene whimpered in pain, her eyes welling up with hot tears.  
  
"Don't cry, Sweet Pea. I'm Aphrodite and I've come to help you," whispered the goddess with a reassuring smile. "But if Apollo catches me I won't be able to help you."  
  
The girl sobbed and curled up into a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. A soft hand reached out and stroked her cheek, making Cyrene flinch back in momentary surprise.  
  
"I can't heal you, but I can help with the pain." The blonde goddess waved her hands above Cyrene's shivering body and the girl gasped with relief as the pain dissipated. "It'll wear off in awhile, but it'll be long enough for you to rest a bit."  
  
"Don't leave me here alone," pleaded the girl, grasping Aphrodite's silky soft hand and sobbing some more.  
  
The Goddess of Love was moved by the look of compassion in small child's baby blue eyes. She placed her hand over Cyrene's and smiled. "Apollo, current king of the gods, forbids me to take you someplace safe, but nothing says I can't help keep you company." With a wave of her hand, a viewing portal showing Xena and Gabrielle opened. "Just watch and know that someone will find you. Everything's gonna be just fine. Have a little faith in your mothers. They won't let you down."  
  
"APHRODITE!" boomed a deep voice, accompanied by the flash of lightning and rolling thunder.  
  
"Gotta go, Sweet Pea. Hothead of the Sun's got a temper the size of Olympus," said the goddess before disappearing in a flash of golden sparkles.  
  
Cyrene looked into the viewing portal, feeling just how weak her body had become from the loss of blood and a concussion. Though she felt no pain, she had almost no control over her muscles. So she just lay there trying to prepare herself for however long it would take for someone to rescue her...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Xena!" called Gabrielle in alarm.  
  
The warrior was trying to get Argo under control. The young mare tossed her head and stomped her hooves, backing up towards the forest. Xena tried in vain to calm the white horse, but lightning flashed and a tree not three feet from them burst into flames. Argo threw Xena and galloped off into the night. Xena pummeled into a tree headfirst.  
  
"No! Xena!" screamed Gabrielle, dismounting Rallius. She ran over to her wife and cradled the unconscious warrior's head in her lap. Turning to her stallion, she yelled above the storm, "Rallius, go get me some long branches, please."  
  
The great horse nodded and galloped off, perfectly understanding just how severe the situation had become.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
At this point, I was once again wavering on the edge of consciousness and seeing Mother go down like that didn't help any. I mean, she and Mom were out in the middle of this horrible storm trying to find me. That meant it was my fault... or so I thought at the time...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene's pain was slowly returning to her, starting at an uncomfortable dull and building from there. How long had it been since she had seen her mother get thrown? Surely about an hour. The girl refused to look into the portal anymore for fear something else would happen.  
  
Only the pitter-patter of the rain and her throbbing pain kept Little Cyrene company. That and her thoughts of how she would make this up to her mother and mom.  
  
Suddenly, she found hope again.  
  
"Cyrene!" called a familiar voice, echoing against the ravine walls. "Cyrene, where are you, sweetie?"  
  
The girl looked into the portal and saw her mom and Eve leaning over the edge of the ravine, soaked to the bone from the rain. Her mother lay on a litter just a few feet behind them, awake and listening for any indication of her daughter's whereabouts.  
  
Summoning her strength, the girl called back, "I'm here, Mom! Mom, help me!"  
  
Gabrielle heard the faint call for help and gasped. "My baby... my baby's down there..." she whispered, a lump forming in her throat.  
  
"Where are you, Cyrene?" yelled Eve, placing a comforting hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.  
  
Cyrene groaned as the portal faded away. She was on her own now. "I'm on a ledge, Eve!" called the girl. She did some quick calculations. "About forty feet below you!"  
  
Gabrielle laid down on her stomach in the mud so that she could safely look down the ravine wall. Sure enough, no more than forty feet down was a small ledge where she could just make out the shape of a tiny hand protruding from an overhang. She turned to Eve. "You have to do it."  
  
Eve, who had rushed out into the rain when Argo had turned up with no rider, shook her head furiously. "No! I can't! "  
  
"Yes you can! The gods know I'll choke if I do it and your mother needs someone to help with her head and arm injuries, anyway! You're the only one who can get her!" She took Eve by the shoulders and gently shook her.  
  
"What if I can't? I can stand heights, but couldn't we wait until Lydia and the rest get here..."  
  
Xena grunted to get their attention. "Eve, your sister may be dying and you're wasting your time arguing with us. Just go down there and get her. Have a little faith."  
  
Eve gulped and nodded her head. "Okay."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene looked up weakly as some rocks came tumbling down onto the ledge. Crawling out of the safety of the overhang, she glanced up and saw Eve scaling the ravine wall towards her. Her heart leapt with joy. "Eve! Eve, help me please!" she cried, feeling a sudden wave of dizziness from the effort.  
  
Eve swallowed the lump in her throat and continued down the rock face.  
  
Gabrielle glanced behind her as the sound of approaching horses reached her ears. "Lydia, Stone, Taius, help me! Lydia, tend to Xena. Stone and Taius, I need you to be holding the rope in case anything goes wrong!" ordered the bard.  
  
The three nodded and performed their commands without a word.  
  
Eve clenched the rope wrapped around her tightly, causing her knuckles to go white. She didn't have a fear of heights, rock climbing, or the occasional hero-duty... but she was scared stiff of losing her one and only sister. Just ten more feet and she'd get the girl...  
  
Just ten more feet...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Lydia ripped some cloth into strips and began wrapping it around Xena's fractured right arm. "How's the squirt?" asked the ex-Amazon as she grabbed the older warrior's scabbard and sword and used it in the splint.  
  
"She's fine for the moment," said Xena through clenched teeth.  
  
"Good. Junior needs a playmate and I don't plan on having anymore children for the moment," mused Lydia as she quickly and efficiently tied the splint, then began dressing the older warrior's head wound.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Eve finally dropped onto the ledge and quickly enveloped a sobbing child. She stroked the girl's soft hair and kissed her forehead comfortingly. "It's okay, Cyrene. I've got you now and you're going to be just fine. Come on, let's go." She wrapped some of the rope around her sister and pulled on it three times.  
  
At the top, Stone, Taius, Lydia, and Gabrielle began tugging on the rope. Their combined muscle power pulled the rope up quickly and almost effortlessly. Soon Eve and her sister when in the home stretch; just a few more feet to go.  
  
But the cosmos refused to let Cyrene get out that easily.  
  
The rope abruptly snapped, sending the four adults flying back. In a flash, Taius was back on his feet and chasing the rope. He dove after the end and caught it just before Eve and Cyrene were lost for good. Stone grabbed his legs and pulled all three to safety.  
  
"Oh my gods, my baby," cried Gabrielle, running over and pulling a crying Cyrene into her arms. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. Never do that again," she whispered, kissing the girl's forehead.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
So, it just goes to show that all I needed to do was have a little faith in my family; my friends... and I got out of it all right. Few broken bones, bit of a punctured lung, something of a concussion, but otherwise it was our faith that got me out of there alive and in one piece.  
  
My first life lesson: have a little faith. 


	2. Lesson 2: Selfless, Not Selfish!

Legal Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess, such as Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, Virgil, etc. I do own, however the characters that do not appear in the series, such as Little Cyrene and Lydia.  
  
Other Disclaimers:  
  
Sex: Implied...and some dirty dancing.  
  
Violence: Yup  
  
Potty Mouth: Mild  
  
Subtext: Oh no! It's two women in love... WITH EACH OTHER! The horror!! Jeez, people, lighten up.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Life's Lessons  
  
By Mystik  
  
~ August 1st, 2001 ~  
  
Lesson 2: Selfless, Not Selfish!  
  
Hello again! It's me, Cyrene, back to bother you with another one of my life lessons! I really don't like talking about this one, because I'm supposed to be ashamed about it--and I am--but you wanna know so...  
  
You asked for it.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene jerked her head away from impending doom, but it pursued her. She ducked and swiveled her head the other way, but it followed her yet again. It's hopeless!  
  
"Come on, drink it," said her attacker.  
  
"No."  
  
In the instant that the girl's mouth was open to say that simple word, Xena dumped some bitter tea down her throat. "Gotcha!"  
  
"Yucky, Mother!" whined Cyrene, grimacing at the horrible taste. She stuck her tongue out and wiped it with her hand. "Why do I have to take that icky junk so much?"  
  
"Because it'll help with the pain and make you heal faster. I know for a fact you don't like being cooped up in this bed--I never do," said Xena, leaning back in her chair. She idly tried to scratch her splinted arm.  
  
Cyrene pouted. Three weeks since the accident and she still had four bruised ribs and one broken rib, a broken arm and leg, and a little head injury that made her dizzy at times. Not to mention the fifty-seven stitches all over her body. "Tell me a story, Mother."  
  
Xena hesitated. "I don't do stories... that's what you have your mom for."  
  
"Please?" begged the girl, giving her mother big, round doe eyes. She had Xena under her thumb when it came to wanting something.  
  
The warrior tried to look away but it was too much! She sighed in defeat and hung her head. "Okay, fine."  
  
"Yes!" Cyrene clapped her hands and rubbed them together excitedly.  
  
Xena silently contemplated what story to tell... Wonder if she's heard about M'Lila and Lao Ma... no, I've given up foreign women and that would just make me cry... um... oh, I know the perfect one! "Cyrene, did your mother ever tell you the story of Eli and the Power of Love?"  
  
Cyrene shook her head.  
  
"Well..." Xena smiled at her daughter. "Many years ago, before your sister was even born and Julius Caesar ruled the land, there was a man named Eli. He was a born rebel and as he grew older, began to defy the gods. He even rallied his own group of worshippers that practiced the Way of Love and never prayed to the gods. He taught about the true power of unconditional, undying, powerful, selfless love. Your mom tried to follow his path once."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"At first she was very devoted to her path, threw away her staff and everything, but one day the Romans attacked us. I fought them off the best I could, but Callisto had stolen my chakram. She broke my spine with it, leaving me unable to defend your mom. A Roman moved to kill me, but your mom abandoned her path and killed seven Romans trying to save me. If you think about it, following the way of love is like following your heart. She loves me--and you and Eve--beyond comparison.  
  
"And you have to sacrifice something to follow the way of love. Some people give up all their belongings; warriors give up their weapons. But your mom... she gave up the path of peaceful living to save what she held dearest to her heart and follow the love. So, even though you must give up something, it's not the obvious and as long as you do it out of love... it'll be the right choice."  
  
Cyrene beamed up at her mother. "So... basically, selfless love is the key?" she asked with a yawn.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Thanks mom... that was a really great story..." whispered the girl before drifting off to sleep.  
  
"I hope you're tired because of the tea, not my lack of talent," mused the warrior, pulling the blankets farther up her daughter's body to her chin. She kissed her forehead and turned towards the door...  
  
Where three evil, sinister women were snickering at her. Gabrielle, Lydia, and Eve slapped their hands over their mouths to stifle their laughs.  
  
"Not a word."  
  
More giggles.  
  
"Not one damn word."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
A few hours later, after Cyrene had woken up from her nap, Xena took her out to the porch to get some sun, which had been deprived of the little girl ever since the incident with the ravine. Cyrene looked like a dead girl walking without her usual coppery tan, courtesy of her mother's genes. But, covered by a heap of blankets, you could barely tell that the girl was, well, a girl and not a pile of dirty laundry.  
  
How was she expecting to darken her skin again that way?  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Come to think of it, I remember praying that no one would throw me in the stream and wring me out a few times with the laundry! Anyway, I hated being treated like a broken porcelain doll, but I had no choice and buried myself in the covers until you couldn't see me if you tried.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
It was cold outside; fall was almost over and winter was soon upon them. The girl shivered under all her covers. Ah, winter, she thought bitterly.  
  
"I'll wrestle you to the ground if I have to," said a voice. Lydia and Eve came into view, obviously fighting over Stone Jr.  
  
"I'd like to see you try it while I'm holding your son," teased Eve, cradling the small baby even closer.  
  
Lydia sighed and slumped in a chair on the porch. "I hate it when you do that."  
  
Eve chuckled, then gasped as Stone went for her chest. She quickly held him away and laughed again."No, not me. You want your Mommy for that little activity," said Eve with a wide grin, handing him to Lydia before he started crying. She rubbed some drool off her shirt.  
  
The ex-Amazon laughed. "Good Junior. You know just what to do when your mommy wants ya, huh?" she cooed to the baby, who had begun suckling furiously. She tickled his pudgy tummy, making the infant's feet kick out in protest.  
  
"Traitor..." mumbled Eve. They sat in comfortable silence a moment, and then Eve perked up, "Hey, do you and Stone want to come to a club with Taius and me tonight?" Her azure eyes twinkled mischievously.  
  
Lydia bit her cheek. "I dunno..."  
  
"Oh, come on. I bet you haven't been to a real party since the kid was conceived," said Eve, just itching to get into some trouble.  
  
"Well... Stone has been saying we should get out more..."  
  
"Okay, it's settled. Tonight, you party with me."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Remember me? I heard every word they said. And, being the mischievous little bugger I was, I planned to find out just what this `club' was.  
  
Come to think of it, Eve and Taius had left me with a babysitter many times, always at the end of the week. I normally just moped around and wondered where they went while I was being bored beyond compare (my babysitter is this wrinkly old lady who has nothing better to do than show me the portraits of her many, many cats. Don't get me wrong, she's nice and everything but... you get the picture.).  
  
So, after they left that night, I was home with Mom and Junior (mother was on a two-day supply trip) when I began to think up a plan...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene sighed as she stared out the window at the full moon. Its pale light fell onto her young face, highlighting her dark features. Another sigh. In the background she could hear her mom softly humming to a fussy Junior.  
  
"Mom, I'm bored!" complained the girl, her plan to escape quickly formulating.  
  
"Just a second, sweetie, I gotta get Junior to calm down," said Gabrielle as she crooned over the tiny infant. "Come on, Junior, your mom'll be right back... in the morning. But be good for Auntie Gabby in the meantime, huh? Please?"  
  
Junior stopped crying and looked up at her tearfully, still whimpering.  
  
"That's a good baby. How about I tell you a story, huh?"  
  
Cyrene rolled her bright blue eyes. "Mom, can I go over to Katlia's house? She said I could if I wanted to..."  
  
Gabrielle sighed as Junior began to cry once again. "Okay, okay, just don't stay there too long" by this time Cyrene was halfway out the door "tell her mother I said `hi'" almost out "and don't slam the--" BOOM "--door."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The club was two stories high, with the bottom floor open so you could see down from the top. Along the walls were nothing but bars and bartenders, lined with people perched upon high metal stools. Music blared away from a Macedonian band, so amazingly loud that, unless you were used to the sound, it was hard to think. Only lit by dim lights and colorful glass lanterns, the club had an eerie yet exciting glow about it that attracted dozens upon dozens of people.  
  
Eve laughed and drank from her mug before continuing, "...so Polonius stomps up to Taius and me, and we're just staring at him, then yells `You don't deserve her, you home wrecker!' So Taius yawns, puts an arm around me, and goes `Polonius, your fly is open.'" She and her two friends shared a laugh.  
  
"You're kidding, right?" said Delscia, a woman with dark brown hair and storm gray eyes. She glanced at Polonius, a muscular and handsome guy, who was sulking alone at the next table. "Polo'd never do that!"  
  
"No, I'm serious! And so for like five years whenever he's seen us together he checks his trousers to see if they're buttoned!" exclaimed Eve, giving her ex-boyfriend a teasing wave. Polonius downed some ale and hung his head in shame.  
  
"But Eve, really, when's Taius gonna get serious about you? You guys have been going out longer than Gangus and I have been married!" said Morgan, a woman with flaming red hair and playful green eyes.  
  
Eve shrugged. "I dunno. He's been kinda sneaky lately... you know, slipping away while we're shopping or constantly fiddling with something in his tunic pocket... so he's either cheating on me or about to do something important."  
  
Morgan and Delscia squealed. "Ooh, this is good!" said the red-haired woman. She looked around. "Where's that friend of yours? That Amazon?"  
  
"Haven't seen her since I left with Taius. Told me she had to get something," said Eve through her mug.  
  
"Looking for me?"  
  
The three women turned around and faced Lydia. "'Bout time you got here!" teased Eve, looking Lydia up and down.  
  
Ooh, how shameless could she be?  
  
Her shoulder-length hair, usually pulled back into a half-ponytail, now flowed over her shoulders freely, gleaming in the dim light. Her top--if you dared call it that--was a piece of leather wrapped around her torso, remaining high above her pierced navel. Down the middle the fabric was jagged and torn like it had been tripped open from top to bottom, tied together at the stomach with loose strings and showing a lot of newfound cleavage from becoming a mother.  
  
And her `skirt' was hanging as low as it was allowed to go below her navel. Traveling down to mid-thigh, it had a slit--also with torn edges liked it was ripped--in the front that went as far up as it was possibly allowed to go.  
  
Standing behind her were two Amazons absolutely gawking at the way their friend was dressed.  
  
Eve shook her head. "You really need to learn the meaning of `modest'."  
  
Lydia straddled a chair and her friends did the same. "I'm going to pretend I never heard that. Anyway, Eve, Delscia, Morgan-" they had already been introduced "-these are my friends Ling and Tavi. Ling is currently seeing my brother so you hereby have my permission to call her insane."  
  
The two Amazons waved absently, grabbing drinks from a passing waiter.  
  
"Alright... now explain the tattoos," demanded Eve.  
  
Lydia chuckled. "Okay, this one," she pointed to a picture on her right breast of two roses wrapped around each other with a golden ribbon tied loosely around them, "I got when Stone and I got married. And this one," she put her foot on the table and gestured to a picture on her ankle of a dragon with two swords intertwined behind it, "I was required to get when I became weapons master."  
  
When the ex-Amazon didn't continue, Eve pointed to a tattoo of a black-furred goat with red eyes and white horns on Lydia's abdomen. "And that?"  
  
Lydia shook her head and grinned. "A drunken mistake."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Where am I, you ask? Well, currently, I'm on my way to the club.  
  
And, just to note, don't get a tattoo. I've been given a million different lectures on how you could get an infection, how it looks bad when you get older... blah, blah, blah. So just take my advice and save yourself the trouble.  
  
Anyway, I stopped outside the club and began to figure out how to get in...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Three huge, burly men guarded the door, carefully questioning each person in line to get in so that no minors entered. One of them men stopped a teenager obviously under the age of twenty-one.  
  
"Hey, you got a pass, kid?"  
  
The teen shook his head. "No, why?"  
  
"How old're you?"  
  
"Twenty-one!" stated the young man defiantly.  
  
"Ah, uh. I don't think so. Get outta here. Next!" shouted the huge man, pushing the teen away from the door.  
  
Cyrene, wobbling on one good leg, considered this.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
In case you're thinking `how is she up and about?' Just remember this: I'm Xena's daughter.  
  
Enough said.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"If you're gonna sit here, you gotta spill it," warned Eve with a grin. The other women at the table nodded in agreement. "You have five seconds to answer me."  
  
"What was the question? I forgot..." muttered Lydia to try and stall her total humiliation.  
  
"The question is: Where was Junior conceived? And if you lie... we'll find out by means of the divine," said Eve, smiling wickedly.  
  
Lydia ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "You really wanna know?"  
  
Unanimous nods.  
  
"Well, my best guess of where he was conceived is..." She licked her lips with a deep sigh. "In a two-person rowboat."  
  
"What? I didn't catch that?" teased Delscia, leaning forward with her hand cupped next to her ear. "Say it again."  
  
"In a two person rowboat on the anniversary of the night Stone and I met," said Lydia, louder this time. The blood rushed to her cheeks as the other women laughed.  
  
"What lake?" asked Morgan with a devilish grin.  
  
"Lake Romulus outside the Roman capital..."  
  
Laughter rang through the air.  
  
"Only you, Lydia," said Tavi, bopping her friend on the head.  
  
Lydia let her forehead drop to the table.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene gathered up some small pebbles and loaded them into her slingshot. She then snuck up as far as she could without being seen and aimed through the club's open window at some glasses of ale located near a fire. If she did this right...  
  
The girl pulled the string of her slingshot until taut and took a deep breath. Then, she let go. The rocks flew through the window, past the crowd, and knocked the goblets of ale into the fire, creating a huge blast that caused no harm to the crowd but set a few tables on fire.  
  
Club staff held people out of the club while the three door guards ran off to get some water from the well.  
  
Taking advantage of the chaos, Cyrene crawled through the sea of people--occasionally going through someone's legs--and made it inside.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Stone smiled down at his wife as they danced, bodies rubbing against each other sensually. She faced away from him, rubbing her butt against his powerful body while his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist as he rubbed against her backside. "How many times have I told you how much I love you today?" he said into her ear.  
  
Lydia thought for a moment. "Once when we woke up. Once after breakfast. And once when you saw my outfit," she said with a grin.  
  
"Mmm... well, then I love you times nine. You know why?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I want to celebrate the day I met you. You were fourteen and it was on the fourteenth of the sixth month on the Roman calendar. I want to celebrate how far we've come; how far we're gonna go. Look what we've achieved: a happy marriage and a beautiful son. All we need now is the license to live happily ever after."  
  
His wife laughed. "Sometimes you can just be a helpless romantic." Her hand snaked around and grabbed a handful of his backside mischievously.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene was in awe at the many different people she saw in the club. There were Roman legionnaires, Greek scholars, the occasional Amazon, and so much more. She peeked at the band playing and grinned in spite of herself.  
  
"Hey, lookee wha I got `ere!" slurred a drunk, pulling Cyrene by one ankle into the air. "It'saaa nice li'l girl that I can take home wit me."  
  
Poor Little Cyrene screamed.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Stone, Taius, Lydia, and Eve, whom were all dancing next to each other as a slow song was played, heard the scream and said in unison, "Cyrene."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Gabrielle hurriedly handed Junior to the babysitter and pulled on her jacket. After checking in with a few villagers, she didn't have a doubt in her mind where her daughter was. And she had to get her outta there... fast.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Taius was the first to reach Cyrene, and he delivered a hard smack to the drunk's jaw, sending him flying back over the bar and into the bartender. He then dove down and caught Cyrene before she hit the ground. Tossing the girl to Eve, he jumped up and found himself facing twenty men. "Oh, so the drunk has friends..." he muttered.  
  
Stone joined the fight. "Can you handle it, old man?" he teased. "You better watch your back."  
  
"I dunno, youngin', can you?" replied Taius in accented Greek. He laughed in spite of himself. "And I thought you were going to watch my back?"  
  
Lydia looked at Cyrene and sighed disapprovingly.  
  
"Why aren't you fighting?" asked Eve.  
  
"I don't want to hurt your guy's pride," replied the ex-Amazon.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Gabrielle pushed her way into the club. It didn't take her long to locate her daughter, for an unconscious man came tumbling down from the upper story of the club as soon as she walked in, almost squishing her. "Well, at least I know where they are..." she mused to try and quell some of her anger.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Taius ducked and delievered a hard uppercut to a man's jaw, knocking him into the air and then crashing back down unconscious. A fist connected with his eye and Taius went sprawling to the floor. Just as the drunk who had knocked Taius moved to kick him while he was down, Stone grabbed him by the scruff of the tunic and hurled him off the upper story. He crashed into the railing with a sickening crack and landed hard on the bottom floor. The young man then whirled around and gave his last adversary the same fate, cringing as he landed on top of his buddy.  
  
"Told ya you better watch out, old man," said Stone with a mischievous grin.  
  
"You are asking for it," groaned Taius as he removed himself from a broken table.  
  
Eve helped her husband stand while Lydia began to kiss Stone. "Mm, my wonderful" kiss "strong" kiss "powerful" kiss "handsome" kiss "husband!" cooed the ex-Amazon while the blood rushed to her husband's cheeks.  
  
"Lydia, not in public," he murmured, suddenly finding his boots very interesting.  
  
Taius and Eve simply rolled their eyes. "Are you okay, honey?" asked Eve, turning to inspect Taius's swelling eye. "Ooh, that looks bad. Come on, let's get home."  
  
Cyrene looked up at Gabrielle, who was looking back at her with narrowed eyes, and hung her head. Uh oh...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
You don't know what the meaning of `uh oh' is until you've seen the look my mother gave me when Mom told her what I had done. The first thing that ran through my mind was `she's mad' and then Mother called me over. She had a look of disappointment on her face that cut right through my heart... nothing's worse than being shamed by Mother, nothing.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Cyrene, I'm very ashamed of what you did yesterday. It was a selfish thing to do and you didn't even think twice about it," said Xena coolly. What Cyrene had noticed was that when her mother was mad, she got all quiet and her gaze never left yours. It was downright scary at times. "You scared your mom half to death, Taius and Stone were hurt, and Junior got sick because the babysitter didn't know how to make him stop crying. And for what? I peek into adult business."  
  
The girl stared at her boots and sniffled.  
  
"Your punishment is extra chores for two months, and when I let you go you're going to apologize to everyone you hurt, including Junior. Understood?"  
  
Cyrene nodded shamefully.  
  
"Okay, you can go now."  
  
The girl shuffled out the door, tears welling up in her blue eyes.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Lydia looked at Stone worriedly as she hummed to their sick little baby. He had a small cold, but it was enough to drive both parents up the wall with worry. Junior sneezed and kept fussing, occasionally drifting off then waking back up with a wail. "Come on, sweetie, get some rest," whispered Junior's mom with a loving gaze.  
  
The baby yawned but refused to let sleep come on that easily and began whimpering.  
  
"Aw, please? Baby, you gotta sleep," said Lydia, kissing his warm forehead. She continued to hum a quiet lullaby to the baby when the door squeaked open and two large, round blue eyes peeked through the crack. "Cyrene?"  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
"Yeah, just be quiet. I think Junior's finally getting some sleep," whispered Stone, eyeing his now-sleeping son. The tiny baby's soft snores were just audible, nothing more than the gentle whisper of a cool breeze.  
  
The girl slipped inside but refused to make eye contact with the couple. She seemed to find the floor much more intriguing. "I'm sorry for doing what I did. It was wrong and selfish and I'll never do it again," she said softly.  
  
Lydia smiled at the child gently. It took guts to stand up and apologize like that, especially to admit one is wrong. "It's alright. Curiosity can get you into trouble sometimes, and we understand."  
  
"Okay... see ya..." She slipped out the door, face red with humiliation.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Eve and Taius were curled up in a warm blanket on the couch, Taius gently stroking his lover's hair as they sat in comfortable silence. Eve shifted, placing her head in the hollow of his shoulder where it fit so perfectly, and sighed contently. "Taius?"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"What would you say if I told you I thought I was pregnant?" Her hand absently drifted to her stomach.  
  
"I would say... marry me, Eve," Taius replied, holding a small ring in front of her face.  
  
Eve gasped and rolled over in his embrace so that she was facing him. "Taius... of course I'll marry you!"  
  
"Wow... hit two birds with one stone, didn't we?" mused Taius, placing a hand on her stomach. "How long have you known?"  
  
"Two days. I didn't know how to tell you and..."  
  
"NO!" screamed Cyrene, who had heard the whole thing. Her blood boiled, her eyes flashed red, and she ran out the door. He couldn't... she couldn't... The girl felt her whole world come crashing down on her head.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I don't know how long I ran or how far I had gotten on one broken leg before I stopped, collapsing on the ground next to a stream. All I could think about was Taius taking away the little time I ever spent alone with my only sister. The sun was almost below the horizon when I heard some rustling in the bushes behind me.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene glanced up as a boy, about a year older than her, emerged from the brush. He had jet-black hair and honey colored eyes. Dressed in a simple brown tunic and trousers, he chewed something that created a loud smacking sound as his jaw moved. The boy, who stood at least a head taller than her, looked her up and down and said, "Whatcha mad about?"  
  
"I never get to spend time alone with my sister... she's always with her boyfriend... and now they're getting married and going to have a baby and she'll spend even less time with me and more time with him!"  
  
The boy spit out whatever he was chewing and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Oh... okay... what's your name?"  
  
She recognized a Roman accent in his Greek. "Cyrene, if you really wanna know," she snapped irritably.  
  
"Cyrene, huh? Cool name. I'm Dominic Heckleberry Kingsdon III, but you can call me Donny," said the boy, holding out his hand.  
  
Cyrene shook it and returned to her moping.  
  
"How come you're mad about your sister getting married? My dad complains all the time about wanting to find a wife but he never does. My mom left us when I was two years old," said Donny, taking a seat next to the girl.  
  
"Because it's not fair! I never get to spend time alone with my only sister!"  
  
Donny shrugged. "So? Who do you think cares?"  
  
Cyrene almost blew up at him, but considered his words. No one really does care if I think life's unfair...life's not fair... but they care about Eve and Taius being happy... they care about me not getting hurt, but... I haven't been caring about them... Shame grasped her heart as the realization hit.  
  
At that point, two tall figures stepped from the trees. "Alright, young lady, you're in big trouble," said a husky voice.  
  
Cyrene cringed and looked up at her mother. "Oh, h-h-hello Mother," she stammered. Xena had a steely gray anger in her eyes that sent chills down Cyrene's spine. "Uh oh."  
  
There was a man standing next to the warrior, almost a foot taller than her. He had a scruffy beard and jet-black hair, just like Donny, but his eyes were a bright green instead of honey-colored. "Come on, Dominic, it's time to go," he said with accented Greek.  
  
"Yes, Da. Bye, Cyrene!" called Donny before disappearing into the woods with his father.  
  
Xena looked down at her daughter. "Come on, we've got a long walk ahead of us."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Do you see that? It's Pisces. And that. That's Orion," said Xena, pointing to the various constellations, which had begun to appear in the sky not too long ago. She looked down at her daughter, who was seated on the ground next to her. "Cyrene, do you remember the story of Eli and the power of selfless love?"  
  
Cyrene nodded.  
  
"And how Mom had to give something up to follow true love?"  
  
Another nod.  
  
"Sweetie, that story was a message. I know you don't like Taius, I didn't either, but I've seen the way he makes your sister happy... and I want her to be happy, don't you want that?"  
  
Hesitate... nod.  
  
"We've both got to work out our feelings about this. I'm just being over-protective of my oldest daughter... and you, I hate to say, are just being spiteful and jealous."  
  
Cyrene felt like she had been hit with a club. It was true, she knew that, but the blows of her mother's words were beating her to a pulp inside. "I'm... I'm sorry, Mother..." she whimpered, silent tears falling down her face.  
  
Xena pulled her daughter to her and kissed her on the head. "I know, sweetie... I know you want to spend more time with your sister... but just because they're getting married doesn't mean she'll spend all her time being a wife and mother. Everyone has time to be a brother, sister, or friend. Look at me." She tilted Cyrene's head up to face her. "You must give up a fraction of the time you spend with your sister for her to be happy. Are you ready to make that sacrifice?"  
  
Cyrene wiped away the tears and nodded. "Yes, Mama. If Eve wants to marry Taius... then I hafta agree with it, right?"  
  
"That's right sweetheart. You're not off the hook for being so selfish, but you've escaped a good spanking this time," said Xena, standing up with Cyrene cradled in her arms. "Come on, let's go home."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I'll never forget that day. My mother could've beaten me with a whip until my whole body was raw (she'd never, ever do it of course) and her blows would've done no harm compared to her words. If people think the Warrior Princess has no value behind her words; that she has no poetic talent, they're wrong. No one has ever felt true pain until they've suffered the disappointment of their parent, and I learned that first hand.  
  
But, of course, I made up with Eve and Taius (Taius hugged me so hard I had to stop and catch my breath before speaking again) and then apologized to everyone for the second time.  
  
And the moral of this story is that in order for the people around you to be happy, you have to give something up. In return, they'll give something up for you. Example: men giving up their freedom to wed their one true love; while the women give up their independence as well.  
  
Okay, slightly bad example but I was on the spot. But, in conclusion, I'm just glad I got out of this lesson in one piece! 


	3. Lesson 3: Errors and Mistakes

Life's Lessons  
  
by Mystik  
  
~ August 1st, 2001 ~  
  
Lesson 3: Errors and Mistakes  
  
Okey dokey, kids, class in session! The last lesson we had was a bit short so I'm just going to tell you this one now...so sit back, grab some port (or whatever drinks you have in your modern-day storage closet), and try not to squirt it from your nose.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene sighed as she pulled water from the well. Six months of chores... I don't think this is going to be very much fun, she thought miserably. The girl almost lost hold of the rope as it got tangled in the levy, leaving the bucket of water ten feet down inside the well. Aw... crap. She glanced around to make sure no one was looking and then leaned over the side of the well to untangle the rope. Her little body hung halfway over the well, the dark bottom a good fifty feet down.  
  
Suddenly, her foot slipped and she fell onto the rope, grasping it for dear life. "Not again!" she moaned, have a serious case of déjà vu. She looked around once again to see if anyone was watching, and then began to swing toward the edge. The levy creaked and groaned under the pressure of her weight, but she was able to grab hold of the wall. Just as she was about to pull herself out, the rope broke and she screamed.  
  
"I got ya!" shouted and accented voice, grabbing Cyrene's wrist before she plummeted to the bottom of the well. "Ya know, you really need to learn how to keep yourself ou' of these messes."  
  
Cyrene looked up into the dirt-covered face of Donny as he began to pull her from the well. "Thanks!" she said.  
  
Donny dropped her on the ground and dusted his hands off. "I have the right o' mind to tell your mother abou' this."  
  
"But you're not going to... right?"  
  
"Of course not."  
  
Cyrene sighed in relief.  
  
"I'm going to tell your sister, who will then tell your mom."  
  
"No! I'm already grounded for half a year and if you tell them I'll be grounded for the rest of my life!" cried Cyrene, jumping in his path. "I won't let you!"  
  
A sly grin worked its way onto Donny's face. "You think you can beat me?"  
  
Cyrene clenched her jaw and nodded.  
  
"Okay. Just try it." He darted to the left, causing Cyrene to jerk in that direction then quickly bounced back and ran by her other side.  
  
"Come back here!" shouted the girl, chasing after him. She began to giggle as he weaved around the area, never more than four steps ahead but never less than that, either. After awhile, she caught on that he was teasing her. Ducking her head, she ran as fast as she could and hit him headlong, knocking them both to the ground. "Bad idea," moaned the girl, putting hand to her head.  
  
"You're fine. No blood and just a smidge of a bruise." Donny stood up and dusted himself off again. "Well, since you caught me, it gives me no right to tell on you."  
  
Cyrene rose and smirked. "Good." She paused long enough to smile. "That was fun! You wanna play some more?"  
  
Donny looked confused. "'Fun'? Are you insane?"  
  
The girl, also confused, let her smile drop. "Why would I be insane?"  
  
"My Da says that fun is for the weak-minded and primitive. He would get me good if he ever caught me having fun," said Donny, saying the word `fun' as if it were the worst of curse words.  
  
Cyrene shook her head. "Your Da is the one who's insane! Fun is... well, fun! Come on, I'll show you and if you get in trouble my mother'll talk to him!" She grabbed Donny by the wrist and dragged him off before he could protest.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"...let me go! This is like takin' me hostage, ya know!" shouted Donny as he tried to squirm from Cyrene's vice-grip. "You're cuttin' off the circulation to my hand!"  
  
"Oh, stop your whining! I'm going to show you a good time whether you like it or not!" said Cyrene impatiently. She grinned and turned to the boy, who stopped struggling with a defeated sigh. "Okay, take a deep breath and hold it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
SPLASH! Cyrene giggled as Donny went flying into the water. He came up coughing and sputtering.  
  
"Help! Help, I can't swim! Help me!" he shouted, thrashing around.  
  
Cyrene only crossed her arms and watched.  
  
"Help! I'm gonna drown! Help... wait." The boy grinned sheepishly as he stood up, finding the water only went to his waist. "I knew that."  
  
"Like, duh!" called Cyrene. She abandoned her over tunic on the shore and dove into the water next to him. As the girl came up, Donny quickly turned around, but Cyrene caught the redness creeping up his neck. "What?"  
  
"You... you don't have your shirt on," said a small voice.  
  
Cyrene rolled her blue eyes impatiently. This is going to be harder than I thought... The girl paused long enough to come up with an idea, and then pounced on Donny. After a brief struggle, the boy found himself shirtless and neck-deep in the middle of the river.  
  
"Hey!" he protested.  
  
The girl moved out of the way before he could hit her. "I have an under tunic on! Chill out! Besides, you need a good tan," she said in a matter-of-factly tone.  
  
Donny looked at his pale hand. "True... but you could've asked first!"  
  
"Okay, okay... I'm sorry," said Cyrene irritably. "Now, I'm gonna show you how to swim and by this afternoon, we're moving to the deep part of the creek!"  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
So I spent the day teaching Mr. Accent the basics of how to swim. At first he was a little wary and afraid of the water, but after awhile he got comfortable and figured out that one can actually float on the water instead of always thrashing about and trying to head for shore. And, when we moved to the deep end, the sun was already beginning to go down.  
  
How much I wish we had known better than swim half-exhausted.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene's eyes closed sleepily as she floated on her back across the surface of the calm river. The evening was just the right temperature, also making the water just right for swimming. She reveled in the cool water, relaxing her sore muscles from teaching Donny how to swim the entire day...  
  
"RAAAH!" Donny burst out of the water and pushed her under.  
  
Cyrene screamed, the water filling her mouth, and came up gasping for breath. She turned to Donny and glared at him. "You idiot! What do you think you're doing?"  
  
Donny shrugged. "Havin' fun."  
  
The girl wiped some water from her eyes. "Well... don't do that. What if I wasn't ready and inhaled the water when I went down, huh?"  
  
"Sorry," said the boy quietly. He looked up at her with his honey-colored doe eyes and sniffled sadly.  
  
Cyrene threw her hands up into the air in defeat. "I give up! I'll never understand you boys!" she said with a grin.  
  
Donny perked up. "Hey... I have an idea! What if we have a race downstream? First one to stop wins!"  
  
"I dunno..."  
  
"Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat! You chicken?" He began to cluck, flapping his arms in the water mockingly.  
  
"There's rapids down the river, and who knows how if we'll get washed away?!" protested the girl. Something in her gut was yelling `No! No! This is a disaster waiting to happen!' But Donny's taunting was much louder than that.  
  
"Baargh! Baaargh!" squawked Donny. He began to peck at the water. "Chicken!"  
  
Cyrene angrily hit him upside the head. "Okay, I'll do it! But if we get in trouble, this wasn't my idea!"  
  
"Good! On three. One... two..." Donny took off down the river. "Three!"  
  
"Hey!" called Cyrene, paddling after him.  
  
The two kids swam furiously, laughing and yelling at each other the whole way. Soon they were farther down the river than Cyrene had ever been, but she didn't stop.  
  
"I'm gonna catch you!" she yelled. Speeding up her pace, the girl heard that voice saying `No! Turn back! You're gonna get hurt!' She assumed it was her instincts inherited from her mom: just being worried about everything. So the girl shrugged it off.  
  
Suddenly Donny stopped swimming. "Hey... I can't move!" he screamed, feeling his body cramp up.  
  
Cyrene's stomach tied into a knot. "Donny! What's wrong?"  
  
The boy's head disappeared under the water.  
  
"Oh gods... I'm gonna be so dead for this," she said to herself before diving under.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Opening her eyes, Cyrene looked around the murky water. She could just make out bubbles rising from a spot not two feet away from her. Blowing out some air, the girl swam over and wrapped her arm around Donny's waist. He screamed, letting the air from his lungs.  
  
Cyrene quickly surfaced, letting Donny take a good breath.  
  
Then, disaster struck.  
  
A strong under current caught their legs and they were dragged under. Donny, his stomach cramped into a knot so tight it hurt to move, doubled up and screamed again as they were swept farther downstream.  
  
Cyrene battled the water the best she could, but her eight-year-old body was no match for the strong current. The under current thrashed at her little body, smashing it against jagged rocks and stray tree roots. Blood followed her trail as she was swept through the violent water. Her feet kicked wildly, letting her rise to the surface just enough... She managed to get one quick puff of air, but then she was thrown down to the bottom of the river.  
  
The air left her lungs; the world was quickly fading. The last thing she saw before blacking out was Donny being pulled from the water by a strong arm...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene coughed up some water and groaned. Mommy... was the first thing that went through her head. She slowly opened her blue eyes and saw a blazing, crackling fire only a foot away from her face. The girl quickly moved back from the heat and looked up at the sky, which was dotted with but a thousand stars.  
  
Orion... Pisces...She absently named them before sweeping her surroundings with her eyes.  
  
Lying beside her was Donny, his breaths coming out evenly and signaling that he was still fast asleep. His eye was black, his face cut here and there. Otherwise, the older boy looked just fine.  
  
"You're awake already, lass? Strong one aren't ya?" said a deep voice.  
  
The girl rolled over and saw a man dressed in scraggily clothes. His long hair grew into his even longer beard and dust coated his skin. But, despite his dirty looks, there was a twinkling in his eye that Cyrene found comfort in.  
  
"Do you speak Greek, child?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I caught you and your friend there being thrown down the Great River. Ain't the best place to have playtime, is it?" he mused, poking at the fire.  
  
Cyrene shook her head.  
  
"Well, you're tired, little one. Get some more rest and we'll see what we can do tomorrow, eh?"  
  
The girl was asleep again before her head hit the pillow.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene jerked awake at the smell of cooking meat. Her stomach rumbled audibly and she sat up. Cooking on the fire was fresh venison; sizzling and creating the most wonderful aroma the girl had ever heard. She wiped some drool from her mouth.  
  
"You ain't gettin' none o' that until you get some firewood," interrupted Donny as he came into camp. The boy dumped some wood into a pile and brushed his shirt off.  
  
The girl yawned and flopped back down on her bedroll, deciding to go hungry after all.  
  
"She doesn't need to get anything, Boy. Why don't you have some breakfast?" said the man who had saved their lives.  
  
Donny plopped down on a log and sighed. "How come she doesn't have to do any work?"  
  
"She's a woman. Leave `er alone," said the man, spooning some venison onto Donny's plate. "You two had a rough day yesterday."  
  
"She's a girl," corrected Donny under his breath.  
  
Cyrene, hearing that she didn't have to do any work, abruptly sat up. "He was the one who wanted to race down the river," she said, shaking a finger at Donny.  
  
"Yeah... well... you agreed to it!" he snapped back.  
  
"Kids, kids, don't fight. Yer mothers wouldn't like you squabbling like this, now would they Cyrene?"  
  
The girl froze. "You--you know my name?" she squeaked, looking up at the bearded man fearfully.  
  
A hearty chuckle left the man's lips. "Me and your moms go way, back, Little One. I was there at your Mom's baby shower! Now, I know your Mom told ya the story about your Mother dying... I think the first time, of course."  
  
"Uh huh..."  
  
"Remember the King of Thieves?"  
  
Cyrene's jaw dropped. "You're kidding. You are Autolycus, the greatest thief there ever was? And the one who cheated Stone on that amulet he bought from you?"  
  
Autolycus scanned his brain. "Stone... Stone... the centaur from eleven years ago? I never forget a name. Faces, well... they leave me."  
  
"Yup, the centaur."  
  
The old man smacked himself on the forehead and sighed. "It was a habit, girlie! Almost twelve years ago, it was! You can't hold me for that!"  
  
Cyrene giggled. "I won't... but Stone might be a bit angry if he sees you."  
  
Donny, totally confused, jumped between them. "Wait, wait, wait. Time out for a second here!" He looked at them both. "You know her mothers?"  
  
Autolycus nodded.  
  
"And he was the king of thieves?"  
  
Cyrene nodded.  
  
Donny stepped back and scratched his chin. "I'm still confused!"  
  
Autlycus and Cyrene laughed. "I'll explain it to you later, Sonny. Right now, I gotta get you back home before Xena goes and destroys the rest of the Olympian gods."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Oh man, did Autolycus and I have fun explaining to Donny how he knew my mothers and the adventures they shared! Donny, wide-eyed just listened the entire time. He asked a few harmless questions, but never made a peep during the story telling. I guess his father never let him listen to seemingly untrue stories such as these. I dunno... but I sure had a helluva lotta fun watching his face while I told of my mom giving Mother ambrosia to bring her back to life...  
  
Yet, all our fun ended the moment we got home.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Cyrene Terreis Ephiny Amphipolis! You get your little behind in the house right this instant! Will it never end with you?!" shouted Gabrielle, a vein in her forehead suddenly becoming amazingly visible. "You're going to be the death of me, I swear it!"  
  
Cyrene waved `bye' to Autolycus and Donny and ventured inside to await her doom.  
  
"Dominic, you get home right now before your dad kills another cow!" ordered the bard, pointing towards Donny's house, which was a quarter of a mile away.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," he said meekly, shuffling away.  
  
"And you!" She turned to Autolycus. "Thank you so much for bringing my little girl back to me!" The bard embraced her long-time friend and placed a kiss on his dirty cheek.  
  
Autolycus blushed down to his toes and kicked up some dust. "Aw... I was just in the right place at the right time..."  
  
"Come inside and have some tea. Xena's going to have a veeeery long talk with our daughter and I need some company." She put an arm around Auto's shoulders and led him inside.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Why do you do this to me? Every single time I let you have some freedom, you go and mess it up! How can I trust you by yourself anymore?! And you're not even the one who gets the worst of it! Your mother is gonna pull out all her hair at this rate and I'm going to go gray by the time you're eleven!" chastised Xena.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I know I said that when Mother gets mad, her voice is all quiet and her eyes steely mad... but when Mother's absolutely furious, she screams and stomps and occasionally gives you the underside of her hand on your behind to think about.  
  
Oh, my poor bottom was going to suffer...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene sniffled, wiping away stray tears from her eyes. "We... we were just trying to have some fun, Mommy."  
  
"You do not have that kind of fun!" snapped Xena. "Swimming in the spot I designated for you is just fine; I have no problem with it. But swimming downstream into the rapids is another! You could've said `no' to Donny and kept you both out of danger!"  
  
"But Mommy... he called me chicken."  
  
"And what does that matter?"  
  
Cyrene looked down at her toes. "I... didn't want to be a scaredy cat... I want so much to be like you."  
  
An image flashed through Xena's head. `I want so much to be like you,' Gabrielle had said all those years ago. Those exact words.  
  
Xena sighed and pulled her daughter into her lap. "And I want to be like you," she said, her bottom lip quivering.  
  
Cyrene sniffed and turned her blue eyes up at the warrior. "You do?"  
  
"Sweetie... when I was a little girl, my mother ran a tavern. I had two brothers and no father in sight. I spent my days waiting tables for helpless drunks and stinky travelers with nothing better to do than taunt a thirteen-year-old girl until she cried. So, scared for my life and my dignity, I took up the sword and became what I am today. After all I've been through... all I've put your mom through, I see that, in reality, I wouldn't take anything back. All the choices I made as a youth led me to meet your mom... but I wish I hadn't taken the route I did to meet your mom. I crushed so many lives.  
  
"But you have a fresh start. You can make mistakes and correct them because you have your whole family around... and I want to make sure that I'm always there for you. But I can't be there all the time and I hope to teach you enough so that, one-day, you can make your own choices. Good, innocent fun is fine. But don't go past that, do you understand me?" A tear fell down her cheek.  
  
"Yes, ma'am." Cyrene wiped the droplet from her mother's face and smiled.  
  
"That's my girl." The aged warrior kissed her daughter on the head. "Now, I hope you've had enough of my lectures to last you a lifetime."  
  
Cyrene nodded.  
  
"Good. Now go out and milk the cow."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
One and a half years of extra chores! I thought I was going to die from all the work I had to do! But I knew my mother would never push me past the limit.  
  
So another life lesson was down. I'm beginning to see a pattern:  
  
I get in a life-threatening situation. Mom worries her tail off, cools Mother down a bit, and then Mother gives me the lecture on life. Maybe I was meant to learn all my lessons from my mother... maybe not.  
  
But, in the end, I think Mother was trying to tell me something with her harsh words and punishments. She had a horrible past, with mistakes she'd give her life to correct, such as giving away Solan and betraying Lao Ma's trust to go on a bloody rampage with Borias, and she wants me to see how you should correct errors before they become mistakes. Just like my error of giving in to Donny's taunting and making the mistake of swimming down the river at night.  
  
She made the error of forsaking all the love in her heart for a self-destroying cause:  
  
Revenge.  
  
And I hope, with all my heart, that I learn all my life lessons well enough so that revenge doesn't become part of my daily life. 


	4. Lesson 4: Hearts can be Broken

Life's Lessons  
  
by Mystik  
  
~ August 1st, 2001 ~  
  
Lesson 4: Hearts Can Be Broken  
  
Welcome, welcome, you've tuned in to the first-class tour of my life (Talk about no privacy... *sigh*)! Guess what? Just three more days until I turn the big 14! Yep, it's been six whole years since the last lesson Anyway, this one promises to be more cheerful and...`occasionally' mushy.  
  
Okay, the FYI on what's happened in six years:  
  
Junior isn't Junior anymore. Now his name's Rocky, which he made up as soon as he could talk. (The first word he ever said was `rock')  
  
Lydia and Stone are expecting their third child sometime after New Year. Three years ago, they had a little girl, whose name is Diamond (I swear, the next child they have is going to be called `Boulder' or `Granite').  
  
Eve and Taius did get married and had a little baby girl who's a year younger than Ju... er, Rocky. Her name is Epphy. (Lydia and Eve say it's going to be a perfect marriage... blah). And now they're going to have their second and last child, which is due around the same time Lydia's is.  
  
Mom and Mother haven't really changed all that much... Mom's as active and perky as ever, but Mother, having just turned fifty-one, is having a little trouble with accepting the fact she's aging. She has a weak ankle and has to walk with a cane... poor Mother.  
  
And me you ask? What's happened to poor little me? Well, just hear my story and you'll find out. It takes place three days before my fourteenth birthday and about a week before the Winter Solstice dance...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene studied herself in her body-length mirror. A lot had happened in the last few summers. Her once pixie-style hair now hung down between her shoulder blades; her baby fat was slowly diminishing. Breasts had practically sprung from her chest, making her an item of desire to most of the village boys. She stood a good three inches above her mom, taller than most of her age-mates.  
  
The teen had recently taken up an interest in fighting with the staff and twin swords, taught to her by none other than Lydia and Xena. She knew all the strategies, tactics, and special battle techniques to easily win all the village fighting competitions, or at least the ones she was allowed to enter.  
  
But, at the same time, Cyrene new about all the Greek scholars like Aristotle and Socrates, about the history of many countries, about famous poets and writers like Sappho and Homer. She also had about three different languages mastered while at the same time trying to learn some Egyptian.  
  
Her mom always said she looked like a miniature version of Xena, and Cyrene's high cheekbones, fiery blue eyes, and ebony hair proved her right, while her mother always said she had the mind of her mom... `nough said.  
  
"I need a vacation," she mumbled, pulling her hair back into a half-ponytail. "Rome would be nice... or maybe Africa..."  
  
"How about going to help your mother set up for the Winter dance?" called Gabrielle from the other room.  
  
Cyrene cringed. "You mean mother's outside? In the cold?"  
  
"Yup... and without her medication. Would you mind bringing it to her while you're out there?"  
  
The teen sighed and grabbed her wool cloak. "Yeah, I'm on it."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene trudged through the cold, her coat wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The girl's breaths came out in puffs of smoke, and she absently watched them float into the air and then silently disappear.  
  
She passed by some boys, who began to make cat call her.  
  
"Whoo, shake it girlie!"  
  
"Mm, mm, mmm, mmm! Tasty!"  
  
"Baby, come `ere and share summa that good stuff with me!"  
  
"Hey, don't leave! We just wanna see what those lips are like!" they called, guffawing as the blood rushed to her cheeks and she sped up her pace.  
  
"Give `er a break, guys," said Donny as he watched Cyrene disappear around the corner. "It's almost `er birthday."  
  
Donny's friend Petran laughed, "Oh, that's right. You two are the best of friends," he said in a high-pitched, teasing voice. "Jeez, Kingsdon, when're you going to see whatcha have? I mean, it's something everyone else wants. She's got tits to die for!"  
  
"I'm serious. Leave the girl alone," he warned his friends.  
  
"Ooh, we're soooo scared!" they said mockingly. "You're such a goody-goody, Kingsdon."  
  
Donny sighed and ran his fingers through his long black hair. At fifteen years old, the teen was 6' 1", with wavy, almost shoulder-length hair and the same honey-colored eyes. He had a good build, stronger than most his age, but had been nicknamed "The Gentle Giant" at age 10 when he had refused to shoot a bunny rabbit for a village contest. He and Cyrene had been best friends since they had met almost seven years ago.  
  
"Give it up, Kingsdon, you're overlooking the most beautiful girl in the village," said Petran, hitting his friend upside the head.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"A little to the left."  
  
Shift. Groans of effort.  
  
"Down."  
  
Another shift. More strained groans.  
  
"Little to the right... perfect!" called Xena as the Winter Solstice sign was put up. She made an `ok' sign with her thumb and forefinger.  
  
Stone wiped some sweat from his forehead. "You're going to be the death of us, Xena!" he said with a grin. "Why don't you go home and rest? I'm sure Gabrielle would like some company."  
  
Xena shook her head. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Stone. But I suggest you get home before Taius faints from the effort of waiting hand and foot on two eight-moons-pregnant women!"  
  
Stone nodded and ran off.  
  
"Mother!" called Cyrene as she jogged up. "Mother, you forgot your medicine!"  
  
The aged warrior turned around and smiled at her daughter. "Whew... good timing. I can barely move," she said, accepting the herbs and tea.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
My mother has to take herbs five times a day for her horrible, horrible arthritis. On some days in the winter, she can't even get out of bed because it hurts so badly. In the summer it's not that severe, but during the winter she barely goes outside because of the pain, and whenever she can go outside, she goes.  
  
And it does no good for my parents' marriage, either. Mother keeps saying Mom should get someone younger, not ten years older. But, of course, Mom becomes the voice of reason and turns Mother's rage into hope. It scares me sometimes, but after almost fifty years of being together... it's kinda hard to doubt them for more than a few minutes.  
  
Change of subject.  
  
I was setting up some streamers with my helper, a little boy named Iwakus...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hey, Iwakus, hand me some white streamers," said Cyrene, holding out her hand.  
  
"Here," said a voice... that wasn't Iwakus's.  
  
Cyrene looked down and had to clutch the ladder to keep from falling off. Standing there, looking at her, was Tonnu, only the cutest boy in the entire village! "Uh... um...thanks, Tonnu," she mumbled, shakily accepting the decorations.  
  
"Listen, Cyrene," he said after she had returned to putting up the streamers, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me?"  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I don't quite remember what happened after that (mainly because I fell off the ladder and bumped my head) but I'm pretty sure I managed a tiny `yes' and staggered home.  
  
Tonnu had asked me to the dance! Tonnu! The one boy everyone liked! I could barely believe my memory (of course...the mild concussion gave me doubts but never mind that)! The very thought made me tickled pink and I spent the entire day squirming in my skin as I finished putting up the decorations. But word gets around fast in a small village like mine... and a few problems arose with my new plans.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"How could you do this? We were goin' to the dance. Together. Like we always do!" said Donny angrily, not bothering to pronounce his words without an accent like he usually did.  
  
Cyrene hung her head. "I'm sorry, Donny... but he asked me and I couldn't just say `no' to Tonnu!"  
  
"What's `o great about `im?"  
  
Cyrene bit her lip. Uh oh... She was digging herself into a hole. "Um, well..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, `he's the cutest boy in the whole village,'" spat Donny in a high-pitched tone. "Seems to me he's takin' advantage of his popularity with the ladies..." he mumbled.  
  
The girl sighed and nodded her head. "You're right, Donny. I shouldn't have done canceled on you, but can't I go with him just this once? I'll go with you to the New Year's dance!"  
  
Donny just looked at her.  
  
"And the First Bloom of the Season dance?"  
  
"Well... okay..." said the boy after a long silence.  
  
Cyrene jumped up and wrapped her long arms around his sturdy neck. "That's my big, smart, funny, handsome Donny Wonny..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," mumbled the boy, outwardly looking disgusted but inwardly smiling at the attention.  
  
"Fonny, Ronny, Bonny, Zonny, Gonny..."  
  
He shook his head and smiled. "You win, you win. I'm not mad at you anymore."  
  
"Thank you, Donny." She kissed him on the cheek.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Let me explain to you where all this flirting and kissy-kissy stuff is coming from. Well, first, let me emphasize that Donny and I are just friends. Of course, now you're probably going `that's what they all say!' but it's true!  
  
When we were eleven years old, the other kids began to make fun of us and say that we were going to get married someday. And, being the age when we still believed in cooties, both of us made a bet over who would be the first to fall in love with the other. That shut them up for a little while, but ever since we've been acting like we're a couple when we're not... and it's all a plan to not fall in love with each other. Our logic tells us that if you have too much of someone you don't want to be with them anymore, so we do that.  
  
You know what they say: Don't date your best friend.  
  
So, as we grew older and more mature, we saw that the decision not to fall in love was for the best... no heartbreak.  
  
Or so we thought...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene held a dress to her body and sighed. The old dress had belonged to her mother when she was thirteen... almost seventy years ago! It wasn't exactly out of style, with a v-neck cut and made skin-tight...  
  
But she couldn't wear it to the Winter Solstice Dance when her date was Tonnu! She would be the laughing stock of the whole village!  
  
Alas, the teen didn't have anything else to wear. "I'm gonna look like a joke..."  
  
"No you're not," said Gabrielle as she entered the room. "You're gonna be the envy of the dance." She moved beside her daughter.  
  
"Not in this!"  
  
Gabrielle could barely hide her smile. "You're right. This old thing would never do!"  
  
"But this would." Xena slid into the room with a sly smile, holding up a beautiful black dress.  
  
Cyrene began squealing. "Oh my gods! You're kidding! You bought me a brand new dress?!" she snatched up the garment and held it up against her body in the mirror. "It'll fit perfectly! How did you manage?"  
  
"Eve made it during her free time," said her mother, putting an arm around Gabrielle.  
  
The teen smiled at her reflection in the mirror, then turned to her mothers and gave them a hug. "It's perfect, thankyouthankyouthankyou!"  
  
Xena pulled back and stroked her daughter's face lovingly. "You're welcome, Sweetie... Man, all grown up now, huh?"  
  
"Yup. All grown up and going out with boys," confirmed Cyrene, kissing the aged warrior on the cheek.  
  
Xena cringed. "Let's leave that out, shall we?"  
  
Cyrene laughed and nodded. "Okay, Mother."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Donny skipped a stone on the water, counting the number of jumps with a grin. "Five jumps. Beat that, Missy," he said, turning to Cyrene.  
  
Cyrene searched the riverbank for a moment and found a nice flat rock. "Watch and weep," she replied mischievously. Tossing the rock across the water's surface, she laughed as it bounced six times. "Gotcha. Now fork it over!"  
  
The boy sighed and dug through his pockets, soon producing a dinar. "This isn't fair."  
  
"And why not?" asked Cyrene as she pocketed the coin.  
  
"Because you always win and I'm running out of spending money," whined Donny, poking out his bottom lip.  
  
Cyrene tossed a small purse at him. "Here. That's all I've won from you in the last week."  
  
Donny raised an eyebrow. "I hate you," he said, eyes twinkling mockingly.  
  
"I know."  
  
They gazed at each other silently, each of them with their own private thoughts. After about two minutes, Cyrene exhaled slowly and said, "Donny, if you don't want me to go to the dance with Tonnu... I understand. I'll go with you like always."  
  
"Cyrene... it's fine with me. I mean, I should be happy that you're going to the dance with the most popular guy in the village, right?" He looked at his shoes, hands jammed in his pockets. The young man began to walk away. "Sure is more worthy of you than I would ever be..." he mumbled.  
  
"Donny... Donny, come back!" called Cyrene after him, but he kept a steady pace. "I didn't mean to hurt you..." she whispered, but her words were swept away by the wind.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
That was the first real `fight' Donny and I ever had. Usually, it's just an argument that gets solved with a playful kiss or the occasional bribe... but neither of us had ever walked away from the other like that. I was torn, standing there as I watching his retreating form heading towards the village. He couldn't rule my life... but I just loved him--as a friend--too much to lose him like that. I broke his heart and had to set it right.  
  
But the sun was resting on the horizon; I had to get home soon. It seemed I was going to have to settle this later.  
  
I asked Mom about it that night. She told me not to make any sudden decisions; that I should think long and hard first. I took her advice and slept on it, thought about all the next day, and then slept on it again. I knew it had all but thrown his heart down and stomped on it when he found out that I was dancing with another; and had known it since the day he walked away from me at the river. But I was running out of time... and it was my birthday.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene groggily pulled herself from her bed and stumbled over to her vanity, where she proceeded to splash water on her face. Looking up into her reflection, she grinned. "I'm fourteen today," she said to her reflection, wiping her face. The girl pulled on a sweater and some trousers then ventured into the living room.  
  
"SURPRISE!" shouted the crowd of people who were gathered in the room.  
  
The teen fell back on her butt and screamed in surprise. As she realized what had happened, the blood rushed to her cheeks. "I knew that."  
  
Xena helped her to her feet with a chuckle. "Happy birthday, sweetheart!" said the woman, hugging her daughter and letting her cane fall to the floor.  
  
Cyrene, still in a daze, returned the hug and glanced around the room. She saw all her friends, and then there was Rocky, Lydia, Epphy, Eve, Diamond, Tonnu, and...Donny quietly standing in the corner.  
  
The room was decorated with brightly colored streamers. Not to the point of being childish of course, but just to add a bit of joy to the scenery. In the dining room, the table had been covered with a bright white tablecloth and on top sat the biggest cake Cyrene had ever seen in all her fourteen years.  
  
She laughed as confetti was dumped down on her head. And someone called out "Get the party girl!"  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Cyrene's blue eyes were as wide as saucers as yet another present was set before her. "How many of these are there?" she asked, sitting up in her chair to rip it open.  
  
"Just this last one," replied Gabrielle, eyes twinkling proudly.  
  
The teen let out a deep breath and accepted the box. She shook it a few times, then preceded in neatly untying the bow, placing it aside, and then ripped the paper into shreds, as was her present-opening routine.  
  
"Wow! I can wear these to the dance!" exclaimed the teen, holding up a pair of leather sandals. Placing the present to the side, she clapped her hands together and said, "Okay, now who's ready for cake?"  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The festives lasted all day. They talked about the past years, but mainly of the upcoming dance. Cyrene found herself surrounded by her age-mate girls, each asking so many questions about Tonnu.  
  
"Does he really smell like they say?"  
  
"Are you guys going to kiss?"  
  
"Did you faint when he looked at you?"  
  
"Are you guys going to kiss?"  
  
"What happens when a slow song comes on and you have to dance really close to that luscious bod of his...?"  
  
"Are you guys going to kiss?"  
  
Cyrene dealt with all questions accordingly, and she soon found it was time for the party to end. She bid farewell to her guests and was about to begin clean up when a deep, accented voice made her freeze.  
  
"Um, Cyrene, could I talk with you for a second?"  
  
The girl slowly turned around to look at her long-time best friend. "Sure. Mom, can we go for-"  
  
Gabrielle nodded and shooed them outside, shutting the door without so much as a word. The bard then looked out the window and watched her daughter's retreating form. "Eli, give her strength. She's just a child!" said the bard as she watched her only child go decide whether to make or break a lifelong relationship.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Donny kept his hands shoved into his pockets as he and Cyrene walked along the side of a riverbank. Over the past six years, the duo had nicknamed the large creek `Our River' because it was where they spent most of their time. For hours on end on hot summer afternoons, they would talk and laugh while drinking or swimming in the cool, comforting water. During the winter they would be daring and occasionally slide around on the ice... but now they walked in silent regard of the other with happy childhood memories flooding their minds.  
  
"Remember the time when we were ten, during the windy season, and you flew a scroll attached to a string and slid across the water with it?" said Cyrene as she stopped, turning to the sky.  
  
"Yeah... I still haven't gotten that out of the tree," replied Donny, pointing up into a large oak tree where, by the light of the moon, you could just make out the remnants of a papyrus scroll. They took a seat on a rock, as far away as possible whilst right next to each other.  
  
Cyrene chuckled at the happy memory.  
  
"What about the night after your twelth birthday party? We decided we were big kids and camped out here... but the bugs almost ate us alive and we had to rush home," said Donny, a grin forming on his handsome face.  
  
"Uh huh... and all the other kids were afraid of us because we looked like we had the mumps or the chicken pox," joked the girl.  
  
"And what about that time Tonnu..." He stopped himself and looked at his shoes.  
  
Cyrene's grin faded. She stared at the back of his head for a minute, hoping and praying for the right words to say. "Donny..."  
  
"We've already talked about this, Cyrene," interrupted the young man, his accent slipping through. He looked at her. "You're going to the dance with Tonnu and I want you to have fun. It's not my place to decide who you dance with."  
  
Cyrene studied her best friend for a second. His dark, handsome features were transformed to hard, cold features by the moon; chiseled and detailed in the dim light. Honey-colored eyes turned down, he kept licking his lips and playing with his thumbs nervously. "You're not telling me something," she said sternly. Her eyes narrowed at the boy. "What's bothering you?"  
  
Donny shook his head. "Nothing. I'm fine... just a little cold, that's all," he said, refusing to look her in the eye.  
  
"Please, tell me. I'll help you," pleaded Cyrene, her voice softening to nothing more than a whisper.  
  
The young man hesitated, and then replied, "I'm sorry for being mad at you before. I've never gone to the dance without you and, to tell you the truth, was a bit scared you'd enjoy someone else so much you'd never go with me again. But, really, it's that I feel like I'm not your good enough for you. When I see you train with the staff with your mother... it's amazing. Or when your mom takes her classroom outside and I can watch you learn. Did you know that when you concentrate you stick your tongue between your lips? Every boy in the village wishes to be with you. You're smart, powerful, understanding, and beautiful all at the same time... and it makes me see someone else deserves you... not some accented foreigner who doesn't know how to make a fist."  
  
Cyrene was hit by double blows. Scared of losing me? Not good enough for me? "Donny, I had no idea," she said, putting her hand over his. "Look, I told you that I'm just trying new things with Tonnu. He'd never take your place in my life. But Donny, are more than good enough for me. You're better than me. And I'm glad you don't fight. The world isn't ruled by warriors anymore."  
  
"I'm not better than you...how about...equal to you?"  
  
"Okay, equals," said Cyrene without bothering to hide her grin. "You are my equal in every way possible.  
  
Donny took her smaller hands into his larger ones. "Not your equal in mind. Not your equal in beauty. Not your equal in power. Not your equal in respect. Not your equal in spirit... but maybe, just maybe, your equal in heart; maybe even soul." He leaned forward so their faces were just inches apart.  
  
Cyrene suddenly felt hot. The blood rushed to her face. She closed her eyes and--  
  
"Donny boy! Donny, where are ya?" called a voice into the night.  
  
A curse left Donny's lips as the two teens pulled back. "I'm coming, Da!" he shouted back. Turning to Cyrene, he stroked her cheek a moment before standing up. "I'll see you later... have fun at the dance."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Then he left. Without so much as a backward glance. I felt like killing his dad... but I knew it wouldn't be too nice. Donny's heart was aching to tell me how he felt... and all I could do was sit there and watch him, just like before. So many times, when we were alone, I let him walk away with his heart broken.  
  
Anyway, two days later, just before I left for the dance with Tonnu, I looked at myself in the mirror in disgust...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Another sigh escaped Cyrene's lips as she fixed her hair in the mirror. The black dress fit perfectly; it was tight in all the right spots and did good for her slightly muscular form. Her hair, pulled back into a loose braid, complemented her face shape and eye color.  
  
She looked stunning... but didn't feel that way. She felt like the lowest thing to ever walk the face of the earth.  
  
Xena entered the room and kissed her daughter on the head. "There's my Little Cyrene. You look beautiful, Sweetheart." She leaned heavily on her cane.  
  
Cyrene frowned. "Beauty is only skin-deep, Mother."  
  
The old warrior smiled in sympathy. "Cyrene, I'm not going to tell you what to do about Donny. All I'm gonna say is to really think about the pros and cons. You two haven't left the other's side since the day you met. I don't want to see that relationship crumble." She gave her daughter another kiss on the forehead. "Your date is waiting. Come on."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Heads turned as Cyrene and Tonnu entered the dance. Tonnu, dressed in a white tunic and black trousers, gave the other girls there nods, causing them to gasp in surprise and sheer awe. Cyrene, dressed to kill in her tight black dress, just glued her eyes to the floor.  
  
The band was currently warming up, making high and low-pitched tuning noises with their instruments. White and gold streamers hung from one end of the dance to the other, tied in the middle into a huge, impressive star. Tables were set up in a semi-circle, leaving a flat area in the middle for the dance floor and the band at the end.  
  
Cyrene jumped as Tonnu put a hand on her shoulder. "You look stressed. Is something the matter?" he asked with forced sincerity.  
  
"No...just thinking."  
  
Tonnu gave her a fake smile and smirked at the other boys.  
  
Ah... damn, thought Cyrene miserably as she saw Donny sitting at a table. Alone. She quickly averted her gaze as he looked up at her.  
  
The band started up. "Come on, babe, let's dance," said Tonnu, practically yanking her onto the dance floor.  
  
"I wish you would step back from the that ledge my friend. You could capsize the former lies that you've been living in and, if you do not want to see me again I would understand, yeah, yeah!" sang the lead singer.  
  
The background music began, and with it the people on the floor began to dance.  
  
Cyrene squirmed uncomfortably as Tonnu's hand inched down her back. "Tonnu... don't do that," she chastised.  
  
Tonnu ignored her.  
  
I wish I was dancing with Donny...She glanced around.  
  
Lydia and Stone were dancing together, Stone bent at the waist to accommodate Lydia's growing belly. He whispered something in her ear and she threw her head back laughing while he kissed her neck playfully. They were always shamelessly flirting in public.  
  
Taius and Eve were also dancing together, Taius bent into the same position. He rested his cheek against his wife's, gently leading her across the dance floor while quietly murmuring in her ear. Eve put her head on his shoulder and smiled. Unlike Lydia and Stone, Taius and Eve were more subtle about their relationship in public; they kissed briefly and never shot each other smoldering glances... just smiled and knew that it would all change as soon as they got home...  
  
Cyrene also saw Rocky and Epphy dancing. Well, trying to dance. The teen smiled as her younger cousin yelled out when Rocky accidentally stepped on her foot. Epphy screamed at him for a second, then they both broke into giggles and Epphy stepped on his foot.  
  
Her mother and mom were dancing. Despite their differences in height, Xena and Gabrielle fit perfectly together. The aged warrior just smiled down at her wife as they moved, neither saying a word.  
  
Then, the teen looked to her dancing partner, who was eyeing the girls dancing next to them. She sighed and cursed herself for ever thinking Tonnu would be a great date.  
  
Finally, the current band ended their song, took their bows, and exited the stage. Soon after they had disappeared, a young woman, no older than twenty, stepped up and gestured for everyone's attention.  
  
"Hello and welcome to the dance, ladies and gentleman, kids and teens, to this year's Solstice dance." She paused to look over the faces of her audience. "This year the village council hired me to introduce all the things going on tonight." The singer laughed and shook her head. "But let's just get on with the music, huh?" That got her a cheer and everyone filed onto the dance floor.  
  
The singer welcomed a man onto the stage with her. "This is my singing partner, Avid. We'll be singing a duet."  
  
Cyrene looked at Tonnu, who was shooting lustful gazes at a tall blonde standing next to them. "Tonnu?"  
  
He turned to her irritably. "What? I was just looking, babe!"  
  
"Go to hell," she said with a smirk.  
  
Tonnu, more than a bit taken back, could only stand with his mouth open as Cyrene ventured off the dance floor.  
  
At this point, the male singer began. "I don't know where we stand anymore... You've got one foot in my life, and the other's out the door. And I can't believe this is happening to me."  
  
The female singer broke in, "Deep inside I wanted believe... that somehow maybe someday there'd be someone there for me. And I hope I haven't lost my chance..."  
  
They began together. "I don't wanna wake up with the reality of you not being here with me. So many possibilities, when will it slip away? And if your heart could speak, what would it say?"  
  
Cyrene broke through the mass of people and looked around. "Donny?" she called desperately. "Donny, where are you?"  
  
Looking down, the teen caught sight of boot tracks leaving the dance and heading towards the river. A smile tugged at her lips as she began to follow them.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Donny stared up at the star-dotted sky thoughtfully. He sat in the spot where he and Cyrene at first met at Our River. As children, they had returned to the spot and carved their names into a boulder close by. It was still there and he fingered it absently. Guess I was never meant to be with someone. Maybe I'm meant to roam the world alone... like my father.  
  
"Donny!" called a voice.  
  
Startled, the boy turned around and was immediately met with soft lips coming down on his. Hands tangled in his long hair and blue eyes closed with a relieved sigh.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Now, Donny and I have kissed before. We've hugged and seen each other in our underwear numerous times, but I've never felt as much fire as I did when we connected right then. A shock ran through my body as Donny finally realized who was kissing him and returned the favor.  
  
I didn't want it to end. Right there, in that moment, I forgot anything else existed and it was just the two of us. It was heaven on earth... Alas, we had to talk and he couldn't do that very well with his tongue in my mouth, now could he?  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Donny pulled back and gasped for breath. "That was... intense," he said after a catching his breath.  
  
Cyrene nodded in agreement and wiped her mouth. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean..." she stammered, the blood rushing to her face.  
  
A smile graced Donny's features. He stroked the red blush creeping into her cheeks and cupped her face. "Cyrene, why aren't you with your date?"  
  
"Because I told him he could take me to the dance. I didn't say he could dance with me," replied the girl in a matter-of-factly tone. She placed her hand over his. "Donny... I'm sorry for ever breaking your heart like I did. Please, forgive me?"  
  
"Of course," he said without hesitation. They looked at each other in friendly silence for a minute then Donny held his hand out with a low bow. "May I have this dance, Cyrene?"  
  
She curtsied. "I thought you'd never ask," she replied, accepting his strong hand.  
  
The music from the dance drifted through the night as Cyrene rested her head on Donny's shoulder.  
  
"You're scared, you're scared, you're scared, you're scared to say you love me," sang the male singer.  
  
"I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared" came the female singer's voice.  
  
"Oh no, no. Will you wanna stay? You don't have to run away."  
  
"I wish I could believe in what I feel. Oh yeah... I've been fooled so many times before; I don't know what is real. Maybe I'm just fooling myself..."  
  
"I'm running out of reasons to let go," came the male voice.  
  
"Don't let go."  
  
"Try'd opening up my feelings, but your door is always closed. And I find myself throwing my life away."  
  
They sang together again. "I don't want to wake up with the reality of you not being there with me. So many possibilities, when will it slip away? And if you heart could speak, what would it say?"  
  
Cyrene smiled into Donny's strong shoulder as they danced. "I love you, Donny," she whispered, but the soft humming of her dance partner and the music from the dance that had almost shattered her life drowned it out.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
We stayed out until the sun was coming back up. Donny and I laughed about old times and occasionally threw in parts of what we wanted to do in the future.  
  
The village kids told us over and over that we would fall in love with each other... and we told them they were wrong.  
  
Guess they were right after all.  
  
TBC 


End file.
